Special Report: Global Financial Crisis    

    LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced Friday that its Board of Directors has approved the sale of failed IndyMac Bank to a private investment group.

    The group, known as IMB Management Holdings, will purchase IndyMack Bank for 13.9 billion U.S. dollars, according to FDIC.

Customers wait outside the Encino branch of IndyMac Bank in Los Angeles on July 17, 2008. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced Friday that its Board of Directors has approved the sale of failed IndyMac Bank to a private investment group.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Steven Mnuchin, a former vice president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., will serve as the consortium's chairman and chief executive officer, said the FDIC.

    Other members of the consortium include investment advisory firms J.C. Flowers & Co. and Paulson & Co. Investment firm MSD Capital is also involved, along with Stone Point Capital, SSP Offshore and SILAR MCF-I, the FDIC said.

    "The current economic climate is challenging for selling assets, but this agreement achieves the goals that were set out by the chairman and board when the FDIC was named conservator of IndyMac in July," said FDIC Deputy Director James Wigand, who led the sale negotiations.

    "Unfortunately, as expected, IndyMac's liability structure, combined with aggressive real estate lending in California, had a significant impact on losses," he said.

    The transaction is expected to close in late January or early February.

    The IndyMac Bank, a California local bank headquartered in Pasadena, Los Angeles, was seized by Federal regulators on July 11,becoming one of the largest bank failures of the year.